Abstract
Both pre- and early postnatal supplementation with docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), arachidonic acid (AA) and folate have been related to neural development, but their long-term effects on later neural function remain unclear. We evaluated the long-term effects of maternal prenatal supplementation with fish-oil (FO), 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF), placebo or FO + 5-MTHF, as well as the role of fatty acid desaturase (FADS) gene cluster polymorphisms, on their offspring’s processing speed at later school age. This study was conducted in NUHEAL children at 7.5 (n = 143) and 9 years of age (n = 127). Processing speed tasks were assessed using Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), Children Color Trails Test (CCTT) and Stroop Color and Word Test (SCWT). Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, folate and total homocysteine (tHcy) levels were determined at delivery from maternal and cord blood samples. FADS and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) 677 C > T genetic polymorphisms were analyzed. Mixed models (linear and logistic) were performed. There were significant differences in processing speed performance among children at different ages (p < 0.001). The type of prenatal supplementation had no effect on processing speed in children up to 9 years. Secondary exploratory analyses indicated that children born to mothers with higher AA/DHA ratio at delivery (p < 0.001) and heterozygotes for FADS1 rs174556 (p < 0.05) showed better performance in processing speed at 9 years. Negative associations between processing speed scores and maternal tHcy levels at delivery were found. Our findings suggest speed processing development in children up to 9 years could be related to maternal factors, including AA/DHA and tHcy levels, and their genetic background, mainly FADS polymorphism. These considerations support that maternal prenatal supplementation should be quantitatively adequate and individualized to obtain better brain development and mental performance in the offspring.
Highlights
The speed of information processing is essential for higher order cognitive functions, including memory or executive functions [1]
Type of prenatal supplementation had no effect on maternal arachidonic acid (AA)/docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) ratio and Total homocysteine (tHcy) levels
Rs174556 SNPs, were positively associated with later processing speed in their offspring up to 9 years, in Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) and Children Color Trails Test (CCTT)-1 tests, while tHcy concentrations in maternal plasma at delivery showed a negatively effect on child processing speed, according to results obtained in SDMT, Word-Reading Stroop Test (WRST) and Color-Naming Stroop Test (CNST) tests
Summary
The speed of information processing is essential for higher order cognitive functions, including memory or executive functions [1]. Processing speed can be defined as the time required to move information from one neuron to the [2], or how quickly a person can perform the mental operations needed to complete a task [3]. This cognitive process is highly related to intact myelination, which is important for the integration of information across spatially distributed neural networks. Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) and folic acid play an important role in brain development, during fetal and early postnatal life [6,7] Their effects on neurodevelopment depend on timing of occurrence and brain needs for particular nutrients at that time [8]. Essential fatty acids (FA) deficiencies during the first year of life lead to severe impairments in synapse formation and myelination [9], which may have negative effects on processing speed tasks later in life [10]
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